Racing, recovery week, holidays and Bunya Road

Race Day, Roadvale

- It is one of the hardest courses around... it's the U19 Championship course. You will be doing OK finishing it!

The first sentence didn't bother me that much, I have heard it a few times before. The second was something I normally don't like hearing but after the first lap on the course I learned why someone would say that. It was a hard course (the image above shows one lap of the course).

I managed to stay with the bunch for most of the race but spent the last 10 km nursing my legs which had cramped in various parts. With 5 km to go, we hit the so called "wall" for the third time and that was the last time I saw the bunch.

The wall is 550 m long at about 8%, part of a 1.6 km stretch averaging 4%. The bunch covered that mile in 4 min 20 sec (23+ km/h). It was hard work but I managed to finish!

Dist.: 95.5 km
Time: 2 h 46 min 21 sec
Asc.:  1345 m

I finished the week on Sunday with a team ride that took me up the Goat Track to Mt Nebo and back to the city for coffee and breakfast.

Lots of fun and a fast descent to The Gap, perfect for getting more accustomed to the bike. Coffee and breakfast was at the Garage, Southbank, where Sandra joined us.

Dist.: 72 km
Time: 2 h 35 min
Asc.: 1245 m


Week Fourteen (race):
Time: 9 h 40 min
Dist.: 260 km


Recovery week and holidays

I haven't done that much since and with school holidays happening at the moment, I decided to take it easy and spend some time with my visiting son, Toby. We don't see each other very often so when he is around, everything else needs to take second place.

This week, the only ride I did was on one of my favourite training loops, Clear Mountain-Bunya Road, again a fantastic ride. Here are a few photos of Clear Mountain...

... and Bunya Road.

Dist.: 63.5 km
Time: 2 h 30 min
Asc.: 1165 m

Next? More time with Toby and a hard build up for the Battle...